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Dunder Mifflin Scranton's HR Rep Toby Flenderson having his Exit Interview before leaving for Costa Rica. © NBC

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Employee Exit Interviews--An Important But Frequently Overlooked Procedure

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When an employee who has technical or management responsibilities leaves an organization, regardless of whether the departure is through termination or voluntary, the potential for legal conflict exists.

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WebExit is the most powerful, easy-to-use exit interview management technology for large and midsize companies across the globe. Turn exit interviewing from a manual, time waster into an effective, data driven process. Reports detail specific drivers of turnover in every department, division & job type within your company.

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The exit interview is also a good time to remind departing employees about their obligations with regard to intellectual property and noncompete agreements, if any exist. Exit interviews can help an employer protect its trade secrets. You can also review computer files and various communications to be aware of any confidentiality or customer-specific issues that could come up in the future. This can be helpful, especially during a notice period, to see if there is a pattern of information accessed by the employee after the departure was announced.

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Feedback from exit interviews can help you to identify problems, learn about potential legal liability situations, and foster an ongoing relationship with company alumni. You also can learn about satisfaction with management, compensation and benefits, and overall morale. In fact, some HR experts believe that the questions you ask on an exit interview are also the ones you should periodically ask your current employees in surveys as a way to identify problems before talent departs.

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Understanding why employees leave your organisation is vital to success.

However, deciding how best to capture exit data in a consistent and meaningful way, is a challenge for many HR teams. We examine two common approaches to conducting exit Interviews: Online Exit Interviews vs Telephone Exit Interviews - which is most effective?

Advantages of Online Exit Interviews

1. Honest
First of all, employees are likely to reflect on their experience with your business with honesty when discussing sensitive or difficult issue(s), because they can submit them anonymously.

2. Increased Accuracy
The absence of an interviewer reduces the likelihood of suggestive questioning for every individual participating in the exit interview. This will, as a result, reduce bias.

3. Quick to implement
Online exit interviews can be quick to set up - sent out to leavers in an instant and produce reports at the push of a button.

4. More Convenient?
Online exit interviews are conducted at the convenience of the employee whilst generating results as and when completed - therefore, decreasing time taken to arrange and conduct exit interviews.

Disadvantages of Online Exit Interviews:

1. Low Participation Rates
The effectiveness of online exit interviews largely relies on a high response rate. With little opportunity to encourage leavers to participate in an online exit interview, low response rates could generate patchy and inconsistent data which is difficult to work with.

2. Impersonal, One-way Conversation
Although online exit interviews can consist of both quantitative and qualitative questions, the ability to probe further is limited and does not give the employee an opportunity to ask the interviewer any questions, should they require to.

Advantages of Telephone Exit Interviews

1. Useful Feedback
Gaining in-depth feedback is crucial to gathering meaningful evidence and data. The telephone interview will have the opportunity to probe further, generating feedback of a highly detailed nature - this could be pivotal in highlighting potential ways to resolve the issue.

2. Personal Touch
As the final interaction between your business and the employee, taking time to conduct a telephone exit interview to understand the influences of their decision to leave could be the difference in leaving a neutral, if not positive, last impression of your company.

3. Easily Tracked
Inputted by the interviewer in real-time, the information disclosed by the employee can be downloaded and used for developmental purposes to improve the recruitment experience.

4. Increased Participation Rates
They are prepared for the discussion to take place, so employees are likely to respond with increased detail and information throughout a telephone exit interview which has been previously arranged.

Disadvantages of Telephone Exit Interviews:

1. Bias
Exit interviews must be conducted in the right manner - the telephone interviewer must remain neutral. This will improve the effectiveness of exit interviews to collect honest feedback.

2. Unskilled interviewers
Employees may be less inclined to open up regarding sensitive issues, should they feel uncomfortable with the interviewer.

3. Finding the Time
Telephone exit interviews will need to be conducted around the employee's availability and will, therefore, increase the administration time involved. This can prove difficult to arrange.

Exit Interviews provide fantastic insight into how you can refine your business processes to improve retention rates and employee experience. We have explored the pros and cons of online and telephone exit interviews - are either right for you?

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Online Exit Interviews vs Telephone Exit Interviews

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However, deciding how best to capture exit data in a consistent and meaningful way, is a challenge for many HR teams. We examine two common approaches to conducting exit Interviews: Online Exit Interviews vs Telephone Exit Interviews - which is most effective? 1.

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Whether or not you can succeed in getting full and honest feedback during an exit interview is, somewhat ironically, dependent on how well you communicated during the departing employee’s tenure.

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My most recent manager at BFC (Big Freakin' Company), a woman probably about 8 years older than my daughter, had the heartbreaking responsibility of handing over my official walking papers today: the covenant not to sue for age discrimination, the agreements regarding the "bridge" to retirement benefits, and most importantly the severance check, all of it comprising the typical package American businesses are using to buyout the Boomer workforce and replace them with smart, hard-working, well-trained young adults from Mumbai, Bangalore, Singapore, São Paulo and Guadalajara.

My manager, whom we'll call Alexia in deference to her generation, was technically on a vacation that was planned far ahead of BFC's Independence Day liberation of thousands of employees, and so the exit interview was conducted via cellphone: she was in a gas mall off I-95 in Rhode Island, and I was in my home office on the coast of Northern California. The phone rang 15 minutes behind schedule at 8:45 AM PT.

"Oh hi, how are you? Sorry I'm late my friends and I are driving up to Newport and we were stuck on a bridge so there was no place to pull over!" She sounded excited, almost jubilant, like she had just walked out of a Timber Justinlake concert. "So, how're doin'?"

Like many older professionals with managers half their age, our relationship was a bit surreal. A 20-year manager myself, I usually coached her a lot more than she directed me, though she balked at any acknowledgement that my experience might be useful. Generally she wanted me to do things her way, even if my gray sidewalls knew of a better way. But the worst part of it was she was just a puppet of the big VP of the group, a guy several years younger than I and a cutthroat politician who had surrounded himself with young women that he could browbeat and downright scare. Poor Alexia was one of his "just do what I tell you and don't ask questions" minions.

"So, how are you?" she asked for the third time.

"Great." It was my last day at a corporation that I had given the majority of my waking hours to for 15 years. It would have been truer to say "Great balls of fire!" which more accurately described my condition, but I didn't feel that it was a good time for the famous corporate "straight talk." And I certainly didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm.

"So you must live in a really remote area. Do you live in a really remote area?" she asked, inappropriately perky.

"Uh..." I began, wondering where this was going.

"Mailboxes Etc. said they can't get your severance check to you until 4:30, because you live in a really remote area. Do you live in a really remote area?"

"I guess so, " I said. "Which carrier did you use? Fed Ex, DHL, USPS?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just gave it to the lady and she said it would be to you by 4:30."

Long pause as if living in a really remote area was another reason I was getting the gate. I contemplated just how inconvenient my layoff must be to poor Alexia. Then I heard sniffles. "God I got so many goodbye emails this week! It's so sad!" And sure enough, she started blubbering. "I'm so sorry," (sniff, gulp, honk, sniff) "I don't know what else to say!"

I don't know if she heard me, but I said "You don't need to say anything. I understand." I was feeling like I was sitting at my 8-year-old daughter's bedside, comforting her over the exhumation of her pet bunny by raccoons, and the indelible scene of bloody bunny parts spread across the lawn. I immediately wished that vision had not hopped into my head, since my parts were feeling a bit scattered as well.

"You remind me so much of my... of my... my father!" she blurted. I'm thinking is this what the corporate workforce has come to? Thirty-year-old MBA managers on the executive fast track thinking of their grey-haired staffers as an army of dear old dads?

"Is there anything I can do for you?" she semi-squealed. Gee. I don't know. Maybe you can call my daughter's college admissions office and plead for more gift aid, since you already got the waterworks workin'.

"No, I'm fine," I said.

"Well, it's been great to get to know you. I guess we can friend each other on Facebook now!"

Pause. I pick myself up off the floor, and tell her in my most reassuring fatherly fashion: "I'm sure our paths will cross again. We'll be in touch."

I said goodbye and hung up my accidental career in corporate America, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, celebrate or go to bed, or perhaps just head down to The Sand Dollar, our beach town bar, knowing that, back at the BFC nerve center in New York it's after 5 p.m. on a Friday, and the weekend has begun.
Jab Harrison is a practicing father, a former corporate dweeb, the author of the novel the upcoming American Corporate and "Adventures in Limboland", a rogue's gallery of characters and events both real and imagined.
Earlier on Huff/Post50:

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An Awkward Rite Of Passage For Laid-Off Post 50s

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My most recent manager at BFC (Big Freakin' Company), a woman probably about 8 years older than my daughter, had the heartbreaking responsibility of handing over my official walking papers today: the covenant not to sue for age discrimination, the agreements regarding the "bridge" to retirement benefits, and most importantly the severance check, all of it comprising the typical package American businesses are using to buyout the Boomer workforce and replace them with smart, hard-working, well-trained young adults from Mumbai, Bangalore, Singapore, São Paulo and Guadalajara.

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Idea in Brief

The Need

In today's knowledge economy, skilled employees are any company's most valuable asset. Thus it's important to understand why they stay, why they leave, and how the organization may need to change.

The Opportunity

Exit interviews, when conducted with care, can provide a flow of thoughtful feedback and insight on all three fronts. They can increase employee engagement and retention by revealing what works or doesn't work inside the organization.

The Challenge

Too often, exit interview programs fail to achieve their potential for two reasons: First, the data they produce can be spotty and untrustworthy. And second, little consensus on best practices exists. This article attempts to address both concerns.

An international financial services company hired a midlevel manager to oversee a department of 17 employees. A year later only eight remained: Four had resigned and five had transferred. To understand what led to the exodus, an executive looked at the exit interviews of the four employees who had resigned and discovered that they had all told the same story: The manager lacked critical leadership skills, such as showing appreciation, engendering commitment, and communicating vision and strategy. More important, the interviews suggested a deeper, systemic problem: The organization was promoting managers on the basis of technical rather than managerial skill. The executive committee adjusted the company's promotion process accordingly.

The greater goal for any company, of course, is to retain valued employees. Research has shown that high turnover predicts low performance and that an organization with turnover lower than its competitors' can be at a considerable advantage-particularly if it retains its top performers. If people are leaving an organization in ever-increasing numbers, figuring out why is crucial. And the most useful tool for doing so is one that too few leaders pay attention to: exit interviews. According to our research, many companies don't even conduct these interviews. Some collect exit interview data but don't analyze it. Some analyze it but don't share it with the senior line leaders who can act on it. Only a few collect, analyze, and share the data and follow up with action. The company mentioned above is in this final group, and it's undoubtedly better for it.

In today's knowledge economy, skilled employees are the asset that drives organizational success. Thus companies must learn from them-why they stay, why they leave, and how the organization needs to change. A thoughtful exit-interview (EI) process can create a constant flow of feedback on all three fronts.

Though we are unaware of research showing that EIs reduce turnover, we do know that engaged and appreciated employees are more likely to contribute and less likely to leave. If done well, an EI-whether it be a face-to-face conversation, a questionnaire, a survey, or some combination of those methods-can catalyze leaders' listening skills, reveal what does or doesn't work inside the organization, highlight hidden challenges and opportunities, and generate essential competitive intelligence. It can promote engagement and enhance retention by signaling to employees that their views matter. And it can turn departing employees into corporate ambassadors for years to come. Indeed, of all talent-management processes, a strategic EI program-one that is designed to yield ongoing, long-term benefits-may be one of the most powerful yet least understood.

The State of Exit Interviews

Too often EI programs fail to either improve retention or produce useful information. We've identified two reasons why. The first is data quality. The usefulness of an EI depends utterly on the honesty and forthrightness of the departing employee. People may be less than candid on their way out the door for many reasons. Some feel pressed for time or unmotivated to explore their feelings. They may not want to say anything negative about a supervisor they like, or anything at all about a supervisor they don't like. As one HR leader at a European mining company puts it, "Are they really going to tell you they're leaving because they don't like their boss? Probably not, because they want references."

The second reason is a lack of consensus on best practices. The goals, strategies, and execution of EI programs vary widely, and the findings and recommendations from empirical studies are often vague or conflicting. But in our view, the deepest problem is that many organizations use EI programs as an excuse not to have meaningful retention conversations with current employees.

To get a clearer sense of the state of EI processes and outcomes, in 2012 and 2013 we surveyed 188 executives and interviewed 32 senior leaders. They represented 210 organizations in 33 industries, headquartered in more than 35 countries. Many interviewees were personally responsible for leading the exit process at their companies, and some reported on their own experience of leaving an organization.

Three-quarters of the companies in our study conducted some type of an EI for at least some departing employees. Of those, 70.9% had their HR departments handle the process; 19% had the departing employees' direct supervisors do it; 8.9% delegated the job to the direct supervisor's manager; and 1% turned to external consultants. About 8.2% of organizations used more than one interviewer. Only 4.4% used questionnaires; 1.9% used a questionnaire accompanied by a face-to-face or a telephone interview, and 2.5% used questionnaires as the sole form of EI.

Regardless of method, the effectiveness of an EI program should be measured by the positive change it generates. We asked the executives whose companies had programs to name a specific action taken as the result of an EI (a policy change or an intervention in HR, operations, marketing, or some other function). Fewer than a third could cite an example. Thus two-thirds of existing programs appear to be mostly talk with little productive follow-up. It's not surprising that many people we spoke with believe that exit interviews have a negative return on investment.

To better understand why so many programs fail to prompt action, we asked a subset of executives what happened to the data collected from exit interviews. Most said their companies consolidated the data, but fewer than a third of those organizations regularly shared it with senior decision makers. In other words, most companies ignore the strategic value of exit interviews.

Overall Goals

A strategic EI program provides insight into what employees are thinking, reveals problems in the organization, and sheds light on the competitive landscape. In shaping their programs, companies should focus on six goals:

1. Uncover issues relating to HR.

Companies that conduct exit interviews almost always pursue this goal but often focus too narrowly on salary and benefits. To be sure, people need a certain level of financial compensation to remain with an organization, but unless their salary is out of alignment with their peers', money doesn't usually drive them out the door. Plenty of other HR practices can play into an employee's decision to leave. One leader from a food and beverage company told us that exit interviews inform his company's succession planning and talent management process.

2. Understand employees' perceptions of the work itself.

This includes job design, working conditions, culture, and peers. This can help managers improve employee motivation, efficiency, coordination, and effectiveness.

3. Gain insight into managers' leadership styles and effectiveness.

This equips the organization to reinforce positive managers and identify toxic ones. One executive at a major restaurant chain told us that several exit interviews she'd recently conducted revealed that micromanagement was a big problem. The conversations, she said, "led to some very tangible outcomes," such as establishing training and development initiatives to create better managers.

4. Learn about HR benchmarks (salary, benefits) at competing organizations.

"We use exit interviews to see how competitive we are against other employers: time off, ability to advance, different benefits, and pay packages," an HR executive at a global food and beverage company told us. "And we want to see who is poaching our people."

5. Foster innovation by soliciting ideas for improving the organization.

EIs should go beyond the individual's immediate experience to cover broader areas, such as company strategy, marketing, operations, systems, competition, and the structure of his or her division. One emerging best practice is to ask every departing employee something along the lines of "Please complete the sentence 'I don't know why the company doesn't just ____.'" This approach may reveal trends.

6. Create lifelong advocates for the organization.

Treat departing employees with respect and gratitude. That may encourage them to recommend their former companies to potential employees, to use and recommend the companies' products and services, and to create business alliances between their former and new employers. "You want [a departing employee] to leave as an ambassador and customer," said one North American financial services executive.

Tactics and Techniques

Our most troubling finding is that, as noted earlier, EIs are wholly an HR function at most companies. Indeed, HR often conducts the interviews and consolidates the data, sharing it with management only when directly asked. But this approach marginalizes the process and suggests that it is an operational duty rather than a strategic opportunity. Human resources may administer the program day to day, but it is imperative that the right line leaders participate in the interviews and that the executive committee oversees the program's design, execution, and results. Our research suggests that the committee should meet to discuss this topic at least annually.

After defining goals and assigning ownership, organizations can focus on tactics and techniques. Here are the main factors to consider:

The interviewer.

We found that interviews conducted by second- or third-line managers are most likely to lead to action. Second-line managers (direct supervisors' managers) typically receive more-honest feedback precisely because they're one step removed from the employee. Also, these managers are in a position to follow up immediately and effectively. Their participation signals that the company cares about the opinions of departing employees.

If your company institutes a second interview post-departure, consider hiring a consultant to conduct it. An external consultant typically has several advantages over an internal interviewer, including expertise in exit interviewing and a complete lack of bias, so he or she is more likely to produce reliable data. (You might not want to use a consultant for the first EI, because you'd lose the value of the line manager's participation.)

The interviewee.

Some organizations interview everyone who leaves, and some interview only professional employees, executives, or high potentials. We recommend making EIs mandatory for at least some employees, because research has shown that doing so increases the odds that some specific action will be taken. Our study revealed that the organizations with the most-progressive programs prioritized high potentials and stars over others-a sensible course, given that they're harder to replace. Furthermore, high potentials are generally knowledgeable about the company and also likely to know more about competitors, because they are often recruitment targets. Those who leave can be the most valuable organizational ambassadors, because they're likely to wield plenty of influence in the future. One global telecommunications executive told us that when a high potential leaves, "we want to know everything about it."

When exit interviews are mandatory, the probability that they will lead to specific action generally increases. But our results varied significantly by geography, industry, and size.

For example, 92% of the Asian-Pacific companies we studied conduct mandatory EIs-probably as a result of the exceptionally tight labor market in Asia-but those companies are the least likely to take action after EIs. We also found that EI questionnaires don't work as well in Asia's relationship-based cultures. Only 64% of Central/South American companies conduct mandatory exit interviews, making them the least likely to do so. Mandatory EIs lead to specific action more often in the United States than elsewhere.

As for industry variation, even though professional services firms, for example, are the least likely to have formal exit interview programs, they are the most likely to take specific action as a result of them. This may be because their competitive advantage lies in their people, so these firms strive to be responsive to employees' requests. Also likely to act on the basis of EI data are management consulting firms (65%) and nonprofits (57%), whereas only 20% of utilities and 11% of educational entities do so.

Finally, our research indicates that an organization's size matters. Among midsize companies, 87% make EI programs mandatory, as do 77% of large ones and 66% of small ones. Small organizations are highly likely to follow up if they use questionnaires, but large ones are not.

When leaders understand how the effectiveness of EI design factors can vary according to these three characteristics, they can customize their programs to be as productive as possible.

Timing.

Some experts argue that the most productive moment to conduct the initial EI is halfway between the announcement of an intention to leave and the actual departure-after the initial rush of emotion has died down, but before the employee has checked out mentally. Unfortunately, most exit interviews are conducted during the last week of an employee's tenure, which is probably long after he or she has disengaged.

Another effective approach is to wait until after the employee has left the company. "We typically do the exit interview about a month later, and it's much more relaxed," says one leader in the auto industry. "This is especially if the person who left was a high potential. They normally tell us very honestly why, and often we respond with programs to work on the problems."

Recommendations about the optimal length of an EI vary. Some executives believe it should be kept to an hour, with the option of continuing should the conversation merit it. Others recommend up to 90 minutes. You may want to let departing employees choose the setting and timing of their exit interviews.

Frequency.

Should you conduct one, two, or three exit interviews? Companies can get rich feedback by scheduling several interactions-an interview, a survey, a phone call-before and after an employee departs. Many experts advocate conducting one interview while the employee is still there and one a few months after departure as an effective way of getting forthright responses. In one study, by Joel Lefkowitz, of Baruch College, and Myron Katz, of BFS Psychological Associates, 59% of former employees who answered a questionnaire mailed several months after their exit gave reasons for leaving that differed from those they'd offered during their initial exit interviews. And every employee who had initially failed to cite causes for leaving mentioned specific reasons on the questionnaire. Many company managers feel that three to six months between the initial interview and a follow-up is optimal.

Method.

Most experts believe that a face-to-face interview is the best way to create rapport, though some consider telephone interviews just as effective. Scholars who have found that telephone interviewing may elicit greater honesty than face-to-face meetings argue that the additional cost of in-person interviews is not justified. We generally prefer face-to-face interviews for the most valued employees. But depending on the individual who's leaving, the questions to be asked, and other factors, telephone interviews may be preferable.

If the program calls for more than one interview, varied approaches can help elicit candid responses and test for consistency. We believe that telephone interviews and web surveys are typically best used as complements to face-to-face interviews, and that at least one in-person interview is essential to promote long-term ambassadorship.

Structure.

An unstructured interview can yield unexpected and helpful responses, but it makes consolidating the information more difficult, especially when turnover is heavy. The strength of standardized interview questions is that they make it easier to spot trends. However, they rarely deliver surprising insights and may come off as perfunctory, unintentionally signaling that employees' ideas are not important to the organization. By combining the two approaches companies can more effectively probe areas of frequent dissatisfaction while also leaving room for unanticipated responses.

Manner.

Interviewers should be trained to listen more than they talk and to avoid displays of authority. They should be patient and friendly, occasionally asking open-ended questions and speaking only enough to prompt the interviewee or steer the discussion toward an important topic. They should refrain from discussing fixes for any problems that surface. For example, if a departing employee says that the company requires too many signatures for contract approval, a skilled interviewer will ask him or her to recommend a solution but won't talk about possible company responses. "Don't try to fix issues then," a European telecommunications executive recommends. "Allow the employee to vent. Don't draw it out. Don't second-guess management." Again, training is critical, given the emotional nature of most resignations. It takes skill to reach the heart of the matter.

Interviewers should also frame questions positively and avoid embarrassing interviewees or delving into their personal lives. They might ask how an employee liked the job (was it rewarding, challenging, too easy?) and how working conditions could be improved. Sometimes interviewers ask departing employees how their colleagues feel about their work, because someone who's reluctant to offer a candid opinion might be comfortable ascribing his or her feelings to coworkers. Regardless of whose feelings are shared, useful insights may result.

Most employees have other jobs lined up by the time they announce their departure. An interviewer should consider asking about the new job, but not about how the two positions compare; it's important not to make the employee feel he has to defend his or her choice. The point is to gather benchmarking information. Also, the interviewer should ask for suggestions for improving the job, the work group, or the entire company. Finally, interviewees should have an opportunity to talk about any other pressing matters or thoughts.

Information gained.

How will the company consolidate, share, and act on the EI data? First, any distribution plan should respect the sensitivity of the data and protect interviewees' candor, particularly about their bosses.

Second, the distribution of data should be timed according to the executive decision cycle. A company might require senior line managers to present their subunits' EI data in detail at an executive committee meeting, including specific actions that will be taken in response to feedback or specific reasons for not taking action. When the EI process identifies performance or opportunity gaps, the committee can demand solutions and provide the needed resources.

Leaders often ask if they should share EI data with current employees. That should be up to the executive committee; many executives argue that the company is not obligated to share the data.

Recognizing the uniqueness of each employee, organizations can create an "exit interview menu" that allows him or her to customize the EI experience by choosing the interviewer(s), location, method, length, follow-up, and so on. This design honors departing employees by letting them leave on their own terms, and can lead to better data and stronger ambassadorship in the future.

A Continuing Conversation

For too long, exit interviews have been considered a discrete event focused on organizational failure. We believe that's a mistake, especially in the current world of big data and data analytics, where the potential impacts are most likely amplified. The EI should be the culmination of a series of regular retention conversations with employees focused on organizational learning and relationship building. It should not be the first conversation a company has with an employee about his or her feelings and ideas.

Employees should be asked individually in regular conversations why they choose to stay with the company and what might make them consider leaving. The head of a governmental organization recommends that these conversations cover three questions: Are we helping you be effective in your current job? Are we helping you build a successful career? Are we helping you have a fulfilling life? Retention conversations can surface professional and personal issues before they lead to turnover. For example, high potentials often leave if they feel the company isn't giving them enough development opportunities.

Of course, even the most diligent retention efforts fail with some employees. But they do tend to strengthen the bond between employees and the organization. Employees who believe that the company has demonstrated authentic concern for their professional well-being are more apt to offer valuable information during the EI. As one global consumer products executive told us, "The exit interview reinforces the values of the organization. If it becomes part of your organization's DNA, it becomes hugely beneficial." At the best companies, the retention process starts at the time of hiring and continues well past the employee's last day of work in the form of vibrant corporate alumni programs.

An effective EI process creates a needed mechanism for companies to systematically learn about and from what is their most important resource: their human capital.

The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not represent the U.S. Military Academy, the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense.

A version of this article appeared in the April 2016 issue (pp.88-95) of Harvard Business Review.

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Idea in Brief The Need In today's knowledge economy, skilled employees are any company's most valuable asset. Thus it's important to understand why they stay, why they leave, and how the organization may need to change. The Opportunity Exit interviews, when conducted with care, can provide a flow of thoughtful feedback and insight on all three fronts.

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Tellingly, some of the the best times to get honest employee feedback may be when somebody leaves your company. That's where the exit interview comes into play.

The exit interview provides an excellent opportunity for supervisors to gain key insights and knowledge on multiple levels. What you learn during an interview may even reduce turnover among workers in the future. In fact, in an OfficeTeam survey, 63 percent of human resources managers said their company often acts on information gathered during exit interviews.

Those actions include the following:

Updating job descriptions (29 percent)

Discussing feedback regarding management (24 percent)

Making changes to the work environment/corporate culture (22 percent)

Reviewing salaries (19 percent)

Reviewing benefits (5 percent)

The importance of asking the right questions

An exit interview should be conducted with as many open-ended questions as possible. As noted below, however, there are instances where asking for specifics is called for. Be sure to have a pen and notebook, or a computer, for logging important points.

A word to the wise: While exit interviews should allow for candor, comments or complaints from administrative employees who were fired may be clouded by emotions or negativity and not accurately reflect the overall pulse of your business. In fact, because this type of departure from a firm is upsetting, these individuals may not wish to take part in an exit interview at all. Generally speaking, the most helpful exit conversations take place with people who leave voluntarily.
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12 questions to ask during an exit interview

1. What circumstances prompted you to start looking for another job? The answer to this question will invariably contain details unique to the individual taking part in the exit interview, but asking it gives you the ability to track common themes.

2. Under what circumstances, if any, would you consider returning to the company? Even if this scenario never arises, asking this question can help you develop better admin retention strategies.

3. Do you think management adequately recognized employee contributions? If not, how do you think recognition could be improved? The answer to this question can provide insight into what employee recognition methods are effective and areas where employees may feel underappreciated.

4. Were there any company policies you found difficult to understand? How can the firm make them clearer? Here's a chance to get specifics that can lead to clearer communication going forward.

5. Do you feel your job description changed since you were hired, and if so, in what ways? The answer you get can flag job descriptions you need to update before restaffing the position to make sure you're seeking the right skills in candidates for the job.

Robert Half has been helping employers find A-list professionals since 1948. Let us help you find the candidate who is the right fit for your workplace.

1. Did you feel you had the tools, resources and working conditions to be successful in your role? If not, which areas could be improved and how? Answers to this question will shed light on inadequacies you may have overlooked in the workplace environment.

2. Do you feel you had the necessary training to be successful in your role? If not, how could it have been better? If the answer to the first part of this exit interview question is yes, ask the administrative professional if he or she recalls any aspects of training that were particularly helpful. Then, be sure you are effectively promoting these resources to your team.

3. What was the best part of your job here? Over time, you're likely to hear some common answers emerging, the more exit interviews you conduct. Identify areas where you can encourage more of the positive aspects named by outgoing administrative staff.

4. What can the organization improve on? This general question may prompt someone to share something they just hadn't bothered to suggest while working there.

5. Do you have any suggestions for improving employee morale? Asking about team spirit during an exit interview provides an opening for someone to share what could prove to be a winning idea.

6. Do you have any concerns about the company you'd like to share? With more than one in five HR managers saying information gleaned in exit interviews led to changes in corporate culture, responses to this question may lead to department- or companywide improvements you can make.

7. Is there anything else you'd like to add? Invite the outgoing employee to share anything that wasn't covered in the exit interview. By asking directly, you may receive potentially useful feedback that would have otherwise gone unspoken.

Concluding the exit interview

At the conclusion of the exit interview, briefly review the key points you learned and ask for any clarifications you may need. Thank the exiting employee for his or her service and wish the person the best in future endeavors. At that point, you'll be well-positioned to move forward with hiring a replacement while taking any necessary steps to ensure your other administrative employees have everything they need to excel.
Robert Half conducts exclusive research and offers free resources on a wide variety of topics including management and retention advice.

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The All-Important Exit Interview: 12 Essential Questions

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Tellingly, some of the the best times to get honest employee feedback may be when somebody leaves your company. That's where the exit interview comes into play. The exit interview provides an excellent opportunity for supervisors to gain key insights and knowledge on multiple levels.

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1.      Why are you leaving?

2.      What could we have done better?

4.      Were you comfortable talking to your manager about work problems?

5.      What three things could your manager/the company do to improve?

6.      Did you feel you were kept up to date on new developments and company policies?

7.      Were you given the tools to succeed at your job?

8.      What was your best or worst day on the job?

9.      What did you like most about your job? And what would you change about it?

10.    If you had a friend looking for a job, would you recommend us? Why or why not?

11.    Are there any other unresolved issues or additional comments?

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Exit Interviews | Keeping the Right People | HR Toolkit | hrcouncil.ca

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Exit interviews can be conducted face-to-face, be in the form of a written survey (hard-copy or electronic), or held over the phone. Only face-to-face and telephone interviews allow you to explore responses and gain even more insight. You can help the exiting employee feel more comfortable by starting with friendly discussion and then easing into the more probing questions.

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Ask Entrepreneur

6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

It's pretty incredible how often you hear managers complaining about their best employees leaving, and they really do have something to complain about-few things are as costly and disruptive as good people walking out the door.

Managers tend to blame their turnover problems on everything under the sun, while ignoring the crux of the matter: people don't leave jobs; they leave managers.

The sad thing is that this can easily be avoided. All that's required is a new perspective and some extra effort on the manager's part.

First, we need to understand the nine worst things that managers do that send good people packing.
Related: The 9 Worst Mistakes You Can Ever Make at Work

9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit

They overwork people

Nothing burns good employees out quite like overworking them. It's so tempting to work your best people hard that managers frequently fall into this trap. Overworking good employees is perplexing; it makes them feel as if they're being punished for great performance. Overworking employees is also counterproductive. New research from Stanford shows that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that you don't get anything out of working more.

If you must increase how much work your talented employees are doing, you'd better increase their status as well. Talented employees will take on a bigger workload, but they won't stay if their job suffocates them in the process. Raises, promotions, and title-changes are all acceptable ways to increase workload. If you simply increase workload because people are talented, without changing a thing, they will seek another job that gives them what they deserve.

9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit

They don't recognize contributions and reward good work

It's easy to underestimate the power of a pat on the back, especially with top performers who are intrinsically motivated. Everyone likes kudos, none more so than those who work hard and give their all. Managers need to communicate with their people to find out what makes them feel good (for some, it's a raise; for others, it's public recognition) and then to reward them for a job well done. With top performers, this will happen often if you're doing it right.

9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit

They don't care about their employees

More than half of people who leave their jobs do so because of their relationship with their boss. Smart companies make certain their managers know how to balance being professional with being human. These are the bosses who celebrate an employee's success, empathize with those going through hard times, and challenge people, even when it hurts. Bosses who fail to really care will always have high turnover rates. It's impossible to work for someone eight-plus hours a day when they aren't personally involved and don't care about anything other than your production yield.

9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit

They don't honor their commitments

Making promises to people places you on the fine line that lies between making them very happy and watching them walk out the door. When you uphold a commitment, you grow in the eyes of your employees because you prove yourself to be trustworthy and honorable (two very important qualities in a boss). But when you disregard your commitment, you come across as slimy, uncaring, and disrespectful. After all, if the boss doesn't honor his or her commitments, why should everyone else?

9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit

They hire and promote the wrong people

Good, hard-working employees want to work with like-minded professionals. When managers don't do the hard work of hiring good people, it's a major demotivator for those stuck working alongside them. Promoting the wrong people is even worse. When you work your tail off only to get passed over for a promotion that's given to someone who glad-handed their way to the top, it's a massive insult. No wonder it makes good people leave.
Related: How Successful People Overcome Toxic Bosses

9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit

They don't let people pursue their passions

Talented employees are passionate. Providing opportunities for them to pursue their passions improves their productivity and job satisfaction. But many managers want people to work within a little box. These managers fear that productivity will decline if they let people expand their focus and pursue their passions. This fear is unfounded. Studies show that people who are able to pursue their passions at work experience flow, a euphoric state of mind that is five times more productive than the norm.

9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit

They fail to develop people's skills

When managers are asked about their inattention to employees, they try to excuse themselves, using words such as "trust," "autonomy," and "empowerment." This is complete nonsense. Good managers manage, no matter how talented the employee. They pay attention and are constantly listening and giving feedback.

Management may have a beginning, but it certainly has no end. When you have a talented employee, it's up to you to keep finding areas in which they can improve to expand their skill set. The most talented employees want feedback-more so than the less talented ones-and it's your job to keep it coming. If you don't, your best people will grow bored and complacent.

9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit

They fail to engage their creativity

The most talented employees seek to improve everything they touch. If you take away their ability to change and improve things because you're only comfortable with the status quo, this makes them hate their jobs. Caging up this innate desire to create not only limits them, it limits you.

9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit

They fail to challenge people intellectually

Great bosses challenge their employees to accomplish things that seem inconceivable at first. Instead of setting mundane, incremental goals, they set lofty goals that push people out of their comfort zones. Then, good managers do everything in their power to help them succeed. When talented and intelligent people find themselves doing things that are too easy or boring, they seek other jobs that will challenge their intellects.

9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit

Bringing it all together

If you want your best people to stay, you need to think carefully about how you treat them. While good employees are as tough as nails, their talent gives them an abundance of options. You need to make them want to work for you.
A version of Related: 6 Toxic Beliefs That Can Ruin Your Career this article first appeared at TalentSmart.com and was inspired by a piece authored by Mike Myatt.

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9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit

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Ask Entrepreneur 6 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. It's pretty incredible how often you hear managers complaining about their best employees leaving, and they really do have something to complain about-few things are as costly and disruptive as good people walking out the door.

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Employees quit their job for many reasons. They follow spouses or partners across the country, stay home with children, change careers, find upwardly mobile career promotions, and go back to school. Those reasons are tough to address by an employer because they involve life events in the employee's world outside of work.

But, the majority of reasons why employees quit their job are under the control of the employer.

In fact, any element of your current workplace, your culture, and environment, the employee's perception of his job and opportunities are all factors that the employer affects.

The best way to retain employees is to stay in touch with what they're thinking. Are they happy with their work? Are their needs for a challenge, belonging, development, and meaningful work being met? Do they have the communication, problem-solving, feedback, and recognition that they need from their boss?

If you stay in touch with your employees, you can head off potential retention issues. But, you must think about employee retention every day. Are the systems, processes, and requirements in your company supportive of employees?

Do they support the most important needs of your employees for meaningful work, market compensation and benefits, and the ability to have an effect on their work and workplace? Most importantly, do they make employees want to stay?

Ask them. Hold stay interviews to determine why employees stay with your organization. Then, pay attention to and enhance the factors they identify that keep them coming back every day. Employees job search for a reason. Find out what it is before the employee announces her departure.

Sure, a great opportunity drops into an employee's lap occasionally.

But, this is not the norm. Provide that great opportunity in your company-and know what that great opportunity is- to retain your best employees.

Here are ten critical reasons why employees quit their job. You can manage all of them to retain your best employees.

1. Relationship With the Boss

Employees don't need to be friends with their boss but they need to have a relationship. The boss is too much of an integral part of their daily lives at work for an uncomfortable relationship.

The boss provides direction and feedback, spends time in one-to-one meetings, and connects the employee to the larger organization. To have a toxic relationship with the person an employee reports to undermines the employee's engagement, confidence, and commitment.

According to many sources, a bad boss is also the number one reason why employees quit their job. Here's how to get along with your boss.

2. Bored and Unchallenged by the Work Itself

No one wants to be bored and unchallenged by their work. Really. If you have an employee who acts as if she is, you need to help her find her passion. Employees want to enjoy their job. They spend more than a third of their days working, getting ready for work, and transporting themselves to work.

Work closely with employees who report to you to ensure that each employee is engaged, excited, and challenged to contribute, create, and perform. Otherwise, you will lose them to an employer who will.

3. Relationships With Coworkers​​

When an employee leaves the company, every email that is sent to the whole company, to say good-bye, includes a comment about passionate coworkers who the employee cares about and will miss. Second only to an employee's manager, the coworkers with whom he sits, interacts, and serves with on teams, are critical components of an employee's work environment.

Research from the Gallup organization indicates that one of the 12 factors that illuminate whether an employee is happy on their job is having a best friend at work. Relationships with coworkers retain employees.

Notice and intervene if problems exist and the employees appear unable to solve the problem themselves.

4. Opportunities to Use Their Skills and Abilities

When employees use their significant skills and abilities on the job, they feel a sense pride, accomplishment, and self-confidence. They are participating in activities that they are good at and that stretch their skills and abilities even further.

Employees want to develop and grow their skills. If they're not able to do this in your jobs, they'll find one where they can. This includes opportunity. If an employee can't see a path to continued growth in their current organization, they are likely to look elsewhere for a career development or promotion opportunity. Make sure that you're talking with them and that you know their hopes and dreams. Help them create a clearly defined path to achieving them.

5. Contribution of Their Work to the Organization's Business Goals

Managers need to sit with each reporting employee and discuss the relevance of the employee's job and its key contributions and deliverables to the overall strategy and business plan of the organization. Employees need to feel connected and that they are part of an effort that is larger than just their job. They need to feel as if they matter in the larger picture of the organization.

Too many managers assume that the employee will receive the communication about the vision, mission, and overall plan from executive staff and make this leap. They don't. They can't. They need your help to understand and connect their job to the bigger picture. If they're not part of it, you'll lose them.

6. Autonomy and Independence on the Job

Organizations talk about empowerment, autonomy, and independence, but they are not something that you can do to people or give them. They are traits and characteristics that an employee needs to pursue and embrace. You are responsible for the work environment that enables them to do this. They are responsible for doing it.

A consultant presented a session about the Oz Principles at a recent company event. He pointed out that by creating a culture of accountability, you create empowerment as employees own and execute their responsibilities. Without this, your best employees will leave.

7. Meaningfulness of the Employee's Job

Ah, yes, meaningful work. We all want to do something that makes a difference, that isn't busy work or transactional work, and that contributes to something bigger than ourselves. Ambitious and doable. But, managers must help employees see where their work contributes to the execution of deliverables that make a difference in the world.

With some products and services-cancer research, feeding the hungry, animal rescue, diagnosing and curing illnesses, producing milk or crops-meaningful is obvious, but everyone's work needs the same meaningfulness. Help employees connect to why their work has meaning or they will find a job with an employer who will.

8. Knowledge About Your Organization's Financial Stability

Financial instability: a lack of sales, layoffs or reduced work hours, salary freezes, hiring freezes, successful competitors highlighted in the news, bad press, employee turnover, mergers and acquiring companies, all lead to an employee's feeling of instability and a lack of trust.

Employees who are worried tend to leave. Make every change and potential change transparent. Let them know how the business is doing at all times and what the organization's plans are for staying on track or recovering in the future.

But, the most important issue here is the employees' trust in and respect for the management team. If they respect your judgment, direction, and decision-making, they will stay. If not, they will leave. After all, they have the financial stability of their own families to consider when they decide which executive they will follow -or not.

9. Overall Corporate Culture

While it's not the top item on employee lists, the overall culture of your company makes a difference for employees. Does your organization appreciate employees, treat them with respect, and provide compensation, benefits, and perks that demonstrate respect and caring?

Is your work environment for people conducive to employee satisfaction and engagement? Do you provide events, employee activities, celebrations, and team building efforts that make employees feel that your organization is a great place to work?

Employees appreciate a workplace in which communication is transparent, management is accessible, executives are approachable and respected, and direction is clear and understood. Your overall culture keeps employees-or turns them away. Which gets you what you want and need for success?

10. Management's Recognition of Employee Job Performance

Many place employee recognition further up the list, but this is where recognition scored in a recent Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) survey of employees. While recognition is important, it is not among employees' chief concerns.

A lack of recognition can affect many of the above factors, especially culture, but it's probably not the deciding factor in an employee's decision to leave your organization. Provide a lot of genuine appreciation and recognition as icing on the cake for your employee retention efforts.

But, pay attention to the more significant factors, the cake, if you wish to retain your best employees. Make recognition the way you live in your organization to keep your best talent.

If you pay attention to these ten factors, you will reduce turnover and retain your most wanted employees. If not, you'll be holding regular exit interviews and good-bye lunches. It's expensive to recruit a new employee. Why not expend the effort necessary to retain the employees that you have already painfully recruited and hired?

Related to the Top 10 Reasons Why Employees Quit Their Job

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10 Critical Reasons Why People Quit Their Jobs

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Employees quit their job for many reasons. They follow spouses or partners across the country, stay home with children, change careers, find upwardly mobile career promotions, and go back to school. Those reasons are tough to address by an employer because they involve life events in the employee's world outside of work.

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Focus on good employees who resign. Not all turnover is undesirable. We may not especially care why troublesome employees quit, but we should be strongly interested in why valued employees quit.

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reasons for quit

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It is painful when an employee exits your organization. You have spent years working together, building camaraderie, sharing goals and challenges and their quitting can be devastating in many ways. Can something be done about this? Are you tracking Employee Exit Reasons and can HR do something using this data?

Susan M Heathfield, a Human Resource Expert has written a great article Top 10 Reasons Why Employees Quit Their Job. To understand this better, we analyzed data collected over many years for about 52,000 exit records that spans 4 key verticals and is grouped by 10 distinct employee exit reasons.

We encourage you to compare these insights with exit data from your organization and identify strategies to reduce employee turnover as also retain your high performers.

Employee Exit Reasons

While compensation is thought to be the biggest reason why people quit, it is not even in the top 5.

Personal problems: the exit reason for over 25% of all the exits. Unfortunately this reason indicates incomplete data capture by HR or line managers, typically indicating a lack of a good exit interview. HR should ensure that each employee has a formal exit interview through which the exact reason for exit can be captured.

Growth Prospects: While this reason for employee exit may be related to a higher compensation, on further analysis, we found that the detailed reasons mentioned by employees included education (for a better role), career growth, full-time position (from contractual positions), team management responsibilities, promotion and bigger job responsibilities. With 22% exits related to this category, an organization can reduce exits of this type through open communication, career counseling, internal job placement, re-training and providing opportunities to the top performers.

Miscellaneous Reasons: This covers about 22% exits and includes many varied reasons such as commuting issues, interpersonal conflicts, quality of work, work-life-balance and many others. HR should analyze reasons such as interpersonal conflicts and determine if these are related to the supervisor or management issues. This can prevent costly lawsuits in the longer terms and also increase retention.

Family Reasons: This include employee exit reasons such as relocation due to marriage, maternity, unwell family members and a number of similar situations. You can prevent this type of exit by offering options of part-time work, work from home and flexi work hours.

Discipline: Such exit cases typically are terminations related to absenteeism, ethical issues and misconduct being the key reasons. Read an interesting blog on discipline at manage discipline in your organization

Compensation: This employee exit reason relates to voicing an explicit dissatisfaction with the salary. It appears that in many cases Growth Prospects may relate to compensation related issues too and if the two categories are combined, we cover about 30% of exit cases. Market competitive salaries, compa-ratios, salary structuring and a extensive and frequent communication may help in arresting exit and organizations should prevent their top performers leaving because of this reason.

Performance: We had expected a much larger number of exits in this category but in the tight job market where it is hard to find suitable replacements, effective performance management has taken a back seat. We will continue to analyze the trend here to understand how organizations are managing non-performers.

Others: This includes health issues, expiration of contract, elimination of job role, group company transfer, voluntary exit and restructuring. These constitute a small percentage of the total exits.

Over subsequent posts I will share more analytics related to Employee Exit Reasons to help you and your organization evolve better practices for retaining that valuable employee. You can view an earlier post on Leave Analytics Employee leave trends.

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Why do employees exit? Analysis of Employee Exit Reasons using 50K+ records

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It is painful when an employee exits your organization. You have spent years working together, building camaraderie, sharing goals and challenges and their quitting can be devastating in many ways. Can something be done about this? Are you tracking Employee Exit Reasons and can HR do something using this data?

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Senior Exit Interview on Negative Effects of Cell Phones

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Uploaded by Marissa Mcdonald on 2014-10-29.

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You did it. You gathered up your courage and put in your two weeks notice. You're ready to make it through your last few workdays, bid your co-workers adieu and then hit the road for greener pastures. You feel confident that you're over the hardest part of the process, when suddenly HR contacts you to inquire about a time for your exit interview. This post originally appeared on The Muse.

"What?" you think to yourself, "My exit interview? I thought I could just pack up my desk and sneak right out of here. I don't want to rehash my entire employment experience!"

Yes, there's no doubt that exit interviews can be a little nerve-wracking. Quitting your job was stressful enough. But having to attend a meeting in order to explain all of the nitty-gritty details of why you're quitting? Well, that's enough to have you breathing into a paper bag.

Don't stress! This doesn't need to be an anxiety-inducing experience. In fact, this can actually be productive for both you and your employer. You just need to make sure you know what you're in for. After all, you want to leave on a professional note - not an unprepared one that ends with you turning this final meeting into an impromptu "why I hate this job" therapy session.

So, here are a few exit interview questions you can expect to be asked. Whether it's your first one or your tenth, brushing up on these commonly asked questions never hurts.

1. Why Are You Leaving Your Current Position?

As you might guess, this is likely the key question that your employer wants answered during your exit interview. What the heck caused you to want to pack up your bags and go?

You're asked this for a few different reasons. First, your employer wants to identify whether or not there was a single event that precipitated your departure - such as a falling out with your manager or a co-worker. Secondly, he or she's hoping to determine if there are any shortcomings with the position that need to be resolved before bringing in a replacement.

Remember, one of a company's key goals is employee retention. And, your feedback is critical in helping to achieve that!

2. Do You Think You Were Adequately Equipped to Do Your Job Well?

Companies also want to gain some insider insight into how qualified employees felt, and this question is a great way to determine that.

It might seem a little strange to air your grievances about lack of training, unhelpful technology or a completely uncommunicative team. But, keep in mind that getting that all out into the open will actually help your employer to improve in the long run.

Your HR department isn't daft. They know that you're leaving for a reason, and they're well aware that you won't only have sweet, sunshine-y things to say about your job. So, don't hesitate to be honest. Just remember that you don't want to be absolutely brutal with your feedback either - burning bridges is never recommended.

3. What Was Your Relationship With Your Manager Like?

Your working relationship with your boss was probably the most influential in your daily work life, so your company wants to know the good, bad and the ugly. What did your supervisor do well? How did you feel about his or her management style overall?

Be prepared to also provide some suggestions for ways he or she can improve. It might seem counterintuitive to say anything negative about your supervisor - especially when the "don't ever complain about your boss" rule has been ingrained in your memory for years. But it's necessary feedback.

Again, just remember that you don't want to go off the rails and begin berating your boss. After all, much of your criticism will likely be relayed back to this person. So, when in doubt, keep it constructive.

4. What Was the Biggest Factor That Led You to Accept This New Job?

Of course, you don't need to feel pressured to share all sorts of details about the position you're moving on to. However, you should be prepared to hear a few questions along those lines. The people in charge simply want to get an idea of how they're matching up with other organisations in the same industry.

Perhaps the pay at your new job is way better, and your employer needs to reevaluate its salary structure. Or, maybe something about the company culture really appealed to you. Whatever it is, sharing that information helps your employer to stay on track with its competitors - something that's undoubtedly important when attracting new talent.

5. What Did You Like Most About Your Job?

While the main goal of exit interviews is to get constructive feedback, that doesn't mean you won't have the opportunity to highlight any positives.

In a typical exit interview, you'll be asked what aspects of your position you liked the most. Whether it was a particular job duty, your team members or the weekly happy hours, your company wants to know what made you look forward to coming in each day. This knowledge helps your manager not only continue to expand on these positive attributes, but also play up the appealing traits when listing your position!

6. What Did You Dislike Most About Your Job?

Here it is - the flipside of the coin. It's time to share those not-so-great aspects of your position.

Maybe you hated having to coordinate the monthly board meeting. Perhaps your boss was a complete meddling micromanager. Or, maybe you think your entire department needs to be restructured in order to work more efficiently and effectively.

Now's your chance to be honest and share those complaints that you normally reserved for mutters under your breath and venting sessions over cocktails with friends.

7. What Skills and Qualifications Do You Think We Need to Look for in Your Replacement?

Who has better insight into what it takes to do your job well than you? Spoiler alert: nobody. You were the one who got the work done day in and day out. And, chances are, you did it well. So, your employer wants to know what qualities they should keep their eyes out for when replacing you.

Perhaps your original job description emphasised that you needed to be great with database management. But, once you were there, you realised that database was rarely even touched by anyone in your office. It was an obsolete job duty that they kept pasting over from description to description. Instead, you think that looking for someone with strong organisational and multi-tasking skills is a way more important facet to emphasise. Trust me, your employer will appreciate (and use!) this information.

An exit interview is really nothing to stress over. Think of it as your chance to have a valuable and honest discussion about the ins and outs of the position you're leaving. And, if you do start to feel stressed, just ask yourself what's the worst that can happen. After all, they can't fire you.

7 Questions You'll Probably Be Asked in Your Exit Interview [The Muse]
Image by dzm1try and Tond Van Graphcaft (Shutterstock).

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Seven Questions You'll Probably Be Asked In Your Exit Interview

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You did it. You gathered up your courage and put in your two weeks notice. You're ready to make it through your last few workdays, bid your co-workers adieu and then hit the road for greener pastures. You feel confident that you're over the hardest part of the process, when suddenly HR contacts you to inquire about a...

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Regrets? These former CIOs have a few. In exit interviews, six ex-CIOs say they wish they'd spent more time engaged with business strategy, studied human psychology or gotten an MBA.

The interviews were conducted by Heather Smith, a researcher at the Smith School of Business at Queen's University in Canada, and covered the career lessons of successful IT execs who recently left their CIO positions (two were promoted to COO).

Asked what advice they'd give today's IT leaders, the former CIOs offered statements such as "spend time outside IT with your fellow executives in the business and with customers" and "adapt your skills and role for the world of the future."

The exit interviews are collected and analyzed in a research report, "Wisdom of CIOs," for the Society for Information Management's Advanced Practices Council.

Smith reported that the six former IT chiefs all agreed on three key traits for the successful CIO: being effective at change management, demonstrating strategic business knowledge and leading an IT department that harnesses the creativity and productivity of its people.

But a CIO career isn't easy street. In the report, Steve Pickett, who retired from Penske Corp. at the end of 2015 after 18 years as its CIO, offered this advice: have the guts to make tough decisions and to execute them - "even if they are career-damaging. They can only fire you once!"

Other IT leaders covered in the report include Tony Lombardi, former CIO at Armstrong World Industries; Bob MacTaggart, former CIO at Leviton Manufacturing; and Ed Trainor, former CIO at Southern California Gas Co., Viacom Entertainment Group and Amtrak.

The exit interviews featured questions such as the following:

What are the top three lessons you've learned as a CIO that you'd like to pass on to others?

What advice do you have for companies and CEOs about working with a CIO?

What are the biggest obstacles companies put in the way of their CIOs achieving optimal value?

The Advanced Practices Council, a program for senior IT professionals, supports independent research on member-chosen topics.

More about Advanced Amtrak

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6 ex-CIOs reveal lessons learned, biggest regrets

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Regrets? These former CIOs have a few. In exit interviews, six ex-CIOs say they wish they'd spent more time engaged with business strategy, studied human psychology or gotten an MBA. The interviews were conducted by Heather Smith, a researcher at the Smith School of Business at Queen's University in Canada, and covered the career lessons of successful IT execs who recently left their CIO positions (two were promoted to COO).

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Provides relevant and useful data

Seen by existing employees as a sign of positive culture.

Accelerate participating managers' understanding and experience of managing people and organisations.

Help support an organisation's proper HR practices.

Provide direct indications as to how to improve staff retention.

Retain a valuable employee who would otherwise have left (organisations often accept resignations far too readily with discussion or 'testing the waters')

An excellent catalyst for identifying specific mistakes and improvement opportunities in this vital area of management development and succession.

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A chance to give some constructive feedback, and to leave on a positive note, with good relations and mutual respect.

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The primary aim of the interview is to learn reasons for the person's departure, on the basis that criticism is a helpful driver for organisational improvement.

They are also an opportunity for the organisation to enable the transfer of knowledge and experience from the departing employee to a successor or replacement, or even brief a team on current projects, issues and contracts.

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Exit interviews are interviews conducted with departing employees, just before they leave.

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Periodic reports:
1.         HR should prepare a report quarterly or semiannually, or at whatever interval is deemed helpful, to analyze the input from exit interviews.
2.         This report will show trends in both negative and positive feedback.

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Finding out why a person is leaving is the universal question, and it is key to be able to identify any patterns in voluntary turnover. Important areas to ask about (and frequently given reasons for departures) include availability of training opportunities, appropriateness of supervision, bonus system, benefits, and business travel.

Topics to consider including in exit interviews include:

1.         reasons for employees’ departure;

2.         degree of departing employees’ satisfaction with corporate compensation, benefits, and working conditions;

3.         problems employees may have had balancing personal and work lives; l problems employees may have had with co-workers or managers;

4.         whether employees feel they were treated fairly;

5.         changes employees would make in their jobs;

6.         whether employees feel the supervision and training they received were satisfactory;

7.         whether employees feel they had adequate opportunities for career development and advancement;

8.         legal responsibilities of departing employees to protect trade secrets; and

9.         any loose ends the employee wants to mention regarding projects in the works or ideas for future projects. (The accompanying sidebar contains sample exit interview questions that can be customized to your organization.)

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Checklist use:

1.       Management should prepare a checklist of questions for the interviewer and/or a questionnaire for the departing employee to complete either before, during, or after the interview.

2.       Although the interviewer should have latitude to ask follow-up questions that might not be on the checklist, use of a checklist can ensure that the questioning is uniform and relevant and that no important issues are omitted. Use of a checklist also helps ensure that all employees are treated equally during the exit interview

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Confidentiality provisions:

1.       The policy should emphasize the employer’s commitment to keeping exit interview results confidential to the degree that this is possible, making allowances for situations in which disclosure is unavoidable, such as claims of legal misconduct.

2.       All discussions and meetings with departing workers should be held in a private office or other setting where the employee’s responses cannot be overheard.

Noninterference reminder:

1.       Supervisors should be reminded that they are not to interfere with any employee’s exit interview

2.       for example, by asking what the employee will say about the manager or the department.

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Interview timing.

1.       Exit interviews should be held as close as possible to the employee’s departure, with enough time scheduled or available to ensure that all points or issues are thoroughly covered.

2.       There is a trend to conduct exit interviews a few weeks after employees have left to allow for a bit of distance and perhaps greater clarity. The length of an interview can vary depending on the departing employee’s position but typically average 15 minutes to an hour

Interview methods:

1.       Face-to-face interviews are the best way to obtain candid feedback and responses. Telephone or online interviews might be necessary if the employee is at a remote site or otherwise unavailable for an in-person meeting. Some employers combine a written questionnaire and a face-to-face meeting.

2.       Whichever method is used, providing special training for interviewers in questioning and listening techniques can greatly enhance the effectiveness of the process.

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Identify the exit interview’s purpose:

1. about turnover levels should focus the interview on reasons employees leave.

2. Identify the main objectives of the interview to help determine which questions are most appropriate, and provide interviewers with guidance on follow-up questions and priorities.

Eligible employees.

1. The policy should indicate whether all departing employees are interviewed or just members of a designated group.

2. such as employees who voluntarily resign.